As Tom and Ray pointed out, we should go through this at one point in our driving lives as a right of passage. It makes us strong and gives us a sense of independence. I for one have had it happen a couple of times (usally in the winter when the mechanics of my door are not thawed enough to lock in place). Rather than TYING the door in place I have found that a bungee cord or two can be a life-saver. Hook one end on part of the door and the other the bottom of the seat on the opposite side of the car and you’re good to go! You can even use the door for entering and exiting if you wish. Not a perfect fix. But better than tying yourself in knots.
I have had doors that froze shut (Maine-70 below zero) (Alaska-40 below zero) but never had a door that would not close due to temperature. If the door is thawed enough to open it should then close. Am I missing something here?
I had one that would do this. A 1979 Chrysler Newport that was a ‘beater’ car I had. The locks would never freeze, but you had to hold the door shut sometimes in sub-zero temps because it wouldn’t latch until it warmed up a little.
in the winter, carry a spray bottle with a 50/50 mix of alcohol and water. spray this on any frozen mechanism to loosen it. also works to loosen up that road snot that forms in the wheel wells.
The only problem I see with this is that once the alcohol evaporates, the water will freeze in the lock mechanism and make matters worse. Like using your windshield washer on a bitterly cold day before you have enough heat to run the defroster.
How about the spray for deicing door locks and using it on the latch.
You must not live where it gets really cold.The doors unlocking and not wanting to latch happened to me with great regularity on 60s 70s and 80s Chrysler products. On some of them I took a hammer and ice pick and punched a hole in the edge of the door just above the latch mechanism to spray a moisture displacing lubricant in on the latch mechanism.
I don’t know how cold it gets there, but here is a trick i saw used when I was a teenager (long ago and far away). One of my friends had this problem in Winter from time to time so when the weather called for the conditions under which the problem occured, he left the door window down so that in the morning, he could climb in (like race car drivers) and not be late or school. He did need to dress warm because sometimes the window would be frozen open and doing this procedure during a snowstorm could be challenging.
Oldmotorist